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Recently, both Afghanistan and Pakistan had exchanged lists of wanted terrorists and training areas
India has managed to garner regional support in its war against terror, with Afghanistan openly coming out in its support on Monday, saying there was no "good or bad terrorist". The country urged the global community to come together to designate a state or at least individuals as terrorists.
Afghanistan's National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar on Monday said Afghanistan wants nations to be designated as "terrorist state" or at least "individuals" as "terrorists" to combat the menace more effectively. “If we don't have the ability to designate states, let us hold individuals accountable,” he said in New Delhi.
His remarks come at a time when the UN sanctions committee failed to proscribe JeM chief and Pathankot mastermind Masood Azhar as a terrorist in view of China's strong opposition.
Atmar was addressing a conference on counter-terrorism organised by IDSA , a government think-tank, in the presence of defence minister Manohar Parrikar.
Parrikar, meanwhile, pitched for a global definition of what constitutes an act of terror, something New Delhi has been struggling to achieve at the UN forum.
In a veiled attack on Pakistan, Atmar did not mince words when he said that "the war in Afghanistan is not a civil war. It is a combination of a violent terrorist war and an undeclared war between states".
At a time when national action against terrorism is failing, there i as need to address the fertile grounds available to terrorists, he said, as he pitched for regional cooperation against terror.
Recently, both Afghanistan and Pakistan had exchanged list of wanted terrorists and training areas in the other's territory. "Both countries will have to act on the lists, but there has to be a third party verification," Atmar said.
Atmar said that the Afghanistan-Pakistan region was being used as a breeding ground and launch pad for terrorist attacks around the world. “It is a proven sanctuary. This symbiotic relationship with state and non-state actors is not only a failure of Afghanistan, but the entire region”.
Atmar said groups like the Lashkar and JEM wanted to hurt India. He said terrorists did not just cross borders, but used other routes as well. He said three enemies have come together in Afghanistan—which included the Haqqani network under Taliban, Pakistan-based terror groups like LeT, JeM and Tehreek-e-Taliban, regional terrroist groups and the Al Qaeda-Daesh.
He said that when Pakistan talked about differentiating between good and bad terrorists, Afghanistan engaged with them to explain that Taliban was not the enemy of Daesh, because all those groups were mutating. However, there was a breakdown in communication.
Atmar set the tone for the 19th Asian Security Conference, being held over two days in the capital, saying that the first step towards addressing any of the concerns is "to end state-sponsorship of terrorism".
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said India and Afghinstan have been victims of a proxy war for decades now. He said it was time that the global community framed a definition for terrorism.
“Even though there is a broad consensus on what constitutes an act of terror, a formal agreement is missing,” he said .
“India first submitted a proposal for comprehensive convention on international terrorism at the United Nations general assembly in 1996. Twenty years later, we continue to put our weight behind this aspect—to be able to shut down terror camps, ban all terror groups, and make cross-border terror an extraditable offence in the region.”
There has to be a regional push and cooperation to counter terrorism effectively, he said.
Parrikar said terrorists were exploiting sophisticated technology, tools of communication and complicated webs of terror financing.
Underlining the challenges faced by the global community today, Parrikar said, “We are living in times of global uncertainity, revival of populist movements and heightened nationalism, backlash against globalisation and possible closing of borders.”
He noted that there was an expanding arc of terror across Europe and Asia. India has time and again said that terrorism is the most pervasive and serious challenge to international security. Hence a global collaborative response is required.
Quoting latest figures from the global terrorism index, Parrikar said that a record number of countries are experiencing a high level of terrorism, which has surged by six percent in 2016 over the preceeding year.
Four terrorist groups are responsible for 74 percent of deaths from terrorism. Among these are Islamic state, Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Islamic State affiliated groups carried out attacks in 29 countries last year, which has doubled since 2014.
Around 60 million people have been affected by conflict and violence. This makes terror the single biggest threat to international peace and security. Even while the threat is trans-national, the response does not appear to be coordinated, said Parrikar.
